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maddieautobot273 · 3 months

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Silk & Cologne (50)

A Miguel O'Hara x OC fanfic - link to AO3 (X)

Chapter 50: Marvel - previous chapter (X)

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Female OC

Words: 5.3K+

Warnings: PG-13 for mentions of previous physical/sexual abuse, violence, and intimate soft fluff.

Summary: After a lovely dinner with her mother, Lisa blinks and it's time to perform for Marvel Day!

Special thanks to my friend Tikoy on discord for beta reading!

///////

“Oh, I’m so excited for your show! You know, growing up she was a huge fan of all those comic book superhero type things,” Janet smiled.

After exploring the different vendors and stalls for the first day of Marvel Day, by sundown, Miguel and I treated my mother to dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food was great, and thankfully it seemed like my mother had taken my words to heart, making an effort to talk to Miguel. As the night progressed, the pair seemed to be hitting it off so far and I was very relieved.

Keeping his true identity a secret, Miguel went with the original cover story we came up with back when we were chatting with the police after the first fight with Chameleon. Miguel explained to my mother that he worked with an indie tech company outside of the city, and that due to his office’s grueling schedule, we both talked it over and decided instead of ‘driving’ back home whenever we did have time together, I offered for Miguel to spend the night at my place to let him rest. He left out the vise versa of me staying with him at his place, as he sympathized with my mother’s worry about dating again, and we both agreed the idea of me traveling to another dimension to spend it with a guy would definitely freak her out even more.

“Oh, I’ve noticed,” Miguel offered me a side eye’d glance with a smug grin. “A certain comic collection?”

“It was just the one time, Miguel,” I rolled my eyes as I played with my food.

“Oh are they about that one guy. . . The one who wore a suit and flew around. You know, the guy they got to play him for the movie was very handsome, though nothing like you, Miguel!” my mother mused happily, her eyes widening at the idea of her daughter’s old childhood interest resurfacing. “What was his name sweetie?”

I thought I was going to faint as my cheeks flushed, elbows on the table as my hands covered my face to block out Miguel’s teasing expression. “Tony Stark’s Iron Man, mom. . . Robert Downey Jr.,”

“Really now?” Miguel raised a curious brow, sipping his wine.

“Yes, that’s the one! Lisa had a massive crush on him growing up,” Lisa’s mom giggled.

“Mom!!” Lisa gawked at her.

“We all did, dear, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Janet reassured me with a motherly grin. “Honestly, I personally think the films have gone down hill since they killed him off.”

“Ah, ah, careful mom,” I pointed a cautious finger at her, my lips forming a playful grin. “Even the walls have ears.”

While I’m pretty sure she was safe and the chances of other patrons in the restaurant having also come from Marvel Day were slim, I relished in the little friendly payback I got when my mother had quickly glanced around to see if anyone had heard her. As I continued eating my dinner, I couldn’t shake off the feeling I was being watched.

“On that note, I’m going to make a quick trip to the ladies room,” Janet excused herself from the table, sitting up before she scurried across the room.

When she left, I was reaching for my wine glass when I sneaked a glance at Miguel and noticed him staring. “What?”

“Are you alright?” He asked me.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I shrugged, rolling my shoulders as I adjusted my posture. “I’m used to my mom embarrassing me by now,”

A ghost of a smile coursed through Miguel’s lips before they thinned into a firm line. “I was referring to your friends,”

“My friends?” I repeated, turning to face him as I lowered my fork.

“You were practically glued to your phone earlier today while we were at the hotel until your mother snapped you back into reality,” Miguel gently reminded me, although his voice carried a stern demeanor. “Plus I noticed them leaving you while I waited in line to grab the coffee, especially Kasey.”

My expression softened into a saddened state as my back hunched. “Right, that. . .”

“Lisa, is everything alright with your friends?” Miguel asked me,with concern, his arm reaching out to rest along the back of my chair.

“Mostly, yeah, it’s just Kasey I’m worried about. . .” I sighed, staring down at my plate.

“Have you two not spoken since your fight the other day?” Miguel asked, his voice gentle as he tried to not sound overly probing.

I sighed again, deeper this time. “No,”

Miguel shared his own sigh, shaking his head. “Alright, I know I asked this earlier, but. . . what did Kasey say to you during your fight?”

My pupils went wide at the question, and if I wasn’t already hunched over and we weren’t out in public, I would have curled up into a ball right there and then. “It’s embarrassing. . .”

“Perhaps, but I can tell that it’s clearly been bothering you,” Miguel stated. “Come on, Mona, you’ve always said I can talk to you, so let me return the favor for a change,”

I was hesitant at first, humming in disarray as my gaze flickered between our plates on the table. Long fingers curled around my chin as Miguel gently coaxed me to look up right at him, his thumb brushing along my skin. The look he gave me made me feel like I was going to melt into a puddle.

“Talk to me, mi corazon,” His voice pleaded softly. - my sweetheart

I gulped as his hand lowered from my chin. “Just. . . promise me you won’t freak out?”

His pupils dilated, his head pulling back slightly as if to process my request. He nodded. “I promise,”

“Okay,” I nodded gently, looking around briefly to make sure my mother wasn’t coming back yet. “Well. . .”

I leaned in closer towards him and Miguel reciprocated, angling his head so he could hear me over the bustling chatter of the restaurant.

“Kasey asked me. . . if ‘it was that good’,” I whispered to him, recalling the memory in my mind as I cringed at the thought.

I could literally sense the moment it registers in Miguel’s mind, the meaning behind those words. His cheeks turn red, whether from anger or being flustered, I couldn’t tell exactly as Miguel pulled away. His fingers curled into the wooden chair, taking a deep breath to compose himself. “Now I understand. . .”

“Are you mad?” I asked him nervously, reaching a hand out to engulf my hand over his in a comforting manner. “Please say no. . .”

Miguel managed one more calming breath, breathing through his nose as his eyes closed shut before opening again. There was the tiniest flicker of his brown eyes shifting to red then back to brown again. “I’m not mad, Lisa, just. . . upset that you went through that alone,”

A small weight was lifted from my shoulders as I sighed in relief.

“But I also remember you saying that she didn’t mean it, but that it still hurt to hear,” Miguel added as his hand turned over, his fingers curling around my own and squeezing my hand tightly. “What did you mean by that?”

Now more than ever I wanted to shrink into my chair, to stand up and run and hide. But Miguel’s thumb gently rubbed along the skin of my hand, his eyes patiently staring as he waited for me to answer. My cheeks flushed as I fumbled for the words.

“Well, because. . . we haven’t, you know. . .” I ducked my head down into my shoulders, my cheeks now burning as I noticed the recognition in Miguel’s eyes. “So when she just assumed. . . I snapped. . .”

“I see,” Miguel responded gently, squeezing my hand.

“I apologized to her earlier, because I didn’t know what she had been going through in her private life and deep down I knew she didn’t mean it. She said so long as our performance tomorrow goes well, in the nicest terms, we’re square, but. . .”

The memory rewound itself in my brain, playing like an old record over and over again. God, I felt so fragile at that moment. Just like I do now.

“. . . Is that something you want, Lisa?” Miguel suddenly asked me.

He reached over with his free hand, gently brushing a strand of hair away from my face and tucking it behind my ear as I looked up to face him.

“What?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“Is that something you’d like to try and. . . pursue with me?” He asked more confidently, “Not now, of course, but in the future?”

My eyes widened at the thought, the idea of Miguel and I being physically intimate with one another. Everything we had tried and done up to this point was. . . magical, as corny as it sounds. But it was the truth.

“I. . . I would love that, Miguel, but. . .” I smile softly at him before it falters into a frown, my voice hesitating.

“What’s wrong, Mona?” Miguel asked me, that look of patience never faltering from his face.

“Nothing! I mean, nothing involving you, of course,” I reassured him with wide eyes as I squeezed his hands. “Miguel. . . you have been so patient with me with this. Sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve your affection. You’re just. . . amazing, and yet I make myself hesitate because. . .”

Miguel didn’t say anything, his head tilting to the side as his fingers brushed down my hair again. You’ve been so patient with me.

“When it came to our relationship, Ji-Ho left more than just mental scars, Miguel. . .” I shuddered, lowering my face in shame.

I could feel the muscles of his hand twitch as Miguel froze.

Same old Lisa, so snarky and stuck up.

Going to leave a stain here with that Captain America looking buffoon like you did with me in Korea?

I shuddered at his previous threats, my mind filtering back to old memories. I swallowed nervously and without realizing it my hand came up and brushed along my neck as if I sensed someone else’s hand wrapping around it. Threatening to tighten its grip and make me choke.

I could feel the body heat that radiated from Miguel’s body gain closer in proximity as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “We don’t have to discuss this further if you’re not comfortable. But when you are, I’ll be right here,”

A single stray tear raced down my cheek as I willed myself enough courage to look back up at him, his token of affection releasing me from the dark pit I was falling in. “Thank you, Migs. . .”

“Shall we discuss something else to lighten the mood?” He suggested.

A tired sigh escaped me, “Yes, please, before my mother sees me,” I reached over for a napkin to dry my cheek.

Miguel allows me the moment to compose myself as he reaches for his glass. “Tony Stark?” He raised an almost judgemental brow in my direction. “Really?”

I nearly recoiled as I grabbed my wine glass. “Miguel O’Hara, you’re not jealous are you?” I matched his demeanor, leaning back into my chair as I swirled the wine in my glass.

“‘Jealous’ is a strong word,” Miguel rolled his eyes. “What do you like about him anyways?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, he’s funny, and I think his suits are cool,”

“Okay, but without the suit, what made Stark so likable for you?” Miguel glanced over at me with a genuinely curious expression, trying to mask his jealousy.

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” I grinned, sipping my wine.

Miguel immediately shot me a look, eyes widening.

“Don’t give me that look, he said it!” I gaped, trying to hide my snicker.

“Oh he’s a philanthropist alright,” Miguel muttered into his cup.

I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. “Easy, guapo, you are way better than Tony Stark. You take off your suit, who are you, Miguel O’Hara?”- handsome

“You mean other than a guy who goes commando?” He whispered in my ear with a toothy grin.

It took everything in me to not spit my drink out, again. “You know what I mean,”

Miguel snickered, his lips grazing the shell of my ear. “Genius, trillionaire, and a handsomely charming philanthropist,” he grinned. “You are stroking my ego so much tonight, it’s honestly adorable,”

“Well first impressions, meeting the parents and all, I know it can be stressful,” I sighed gently as I set my wine glass down on the table. “Just trying to keep your spirits high,”

“Mona Lisa, I’m having a wonderful time. I like your mother, she’s a lovely woman,” Miguel reassured me with a soft expression, his mind beginning to wander as his gaze drifted. “It’s just. . . having another mother figure appear in my life after my own wasn’t exactly. . . the best,”

Something tugged at my heartstrings as I lifted my head up from his shoulder, concern pulsing in my eyes. Family trouble? “Are you okay?”

After briefly hesitating, Miguel nodded his head. “Yeah, it’s just going to take a moment for me to. . . adjust is all. But I swear to you, I enjoy your mother’s company,”

“I’m glad,” I smiled up at him, squeezing his shoulder. “But if you do ever feel uncomfortable at any point or need to step away, you can tell me, okay?”

Miguel’s smile curled as he leaned in, kissing my cheek. “I promise,”

We smiled warmly at one another before returning to our food.

“Well, all this talk of Stark did make me think of a little passion project of mine,” Miguel’s lips curled into a ghost of a smile.

“Oh?” My eyes perked up. “What kind?”

“I had an idea for another suit,” Miguel mused. He quickly peeked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching them or coming up to their table before he pulled back the sleeve of his jacket, revealing his gizmo. He tapped the screen, revealing a small holographic projection of a schematic for the new spider-suit. “Still nanotechnology, but the protective material would be an armour plating,”

“. . . Is the colour scheme red and gold?” I offered him a playful smirk.

Miguel shot me a look as if I just insulted him and his genius brain, finding comparisons to the comic book hero simply to annoy the shock out of him.

Try as I might, I couldn’t hold back my laughter as I lowered my hand from my mouth, “I’m joking, Migs!”

Miguel scoffed, rolling his eyes playfully at me. “If you must know, I was thinking of a white, black, and red colour pallet. This will make Stark’s suit look like a tea kettle,” he grinned.

“That’s a big claim,” I grinned, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I’m sorry, who did you say was your favourite again?” Miguel gave me a knowing look, as the projection vanished and he leaned into me, wrapping his arm around my back.

“You are, Miguel. My genius, trillionaire, charmingly handsome philanthropist, and Spider-Man,” I smiled, my hands snaking up his chest and caressing his neck.

“Thought so,” He grinned.

“Getting cozy again?” A familiar voice approached us.

Miguel’s eyes glanced up suddenly and his pupils went wide. He quickly stole a kiss from me before pulling away, returning to his seat. “Nothing too scandalous.”

Janet sat back down in her chair, giving me a teasing look before she picked up her fork. “Reminds me of back during my work days, I had dinner with Bon Jovi and his wife one night. Couldn’t keep their hands off one another,”

“Mom!” My cheeks flushed as I hunched into my chair.

My mother erupted with laughter and Miguel’s own hearty chuckle quickly followed after. I looked over at his face, seeing the way he smiled. After realizing how much I loved seeing him smile, I laughed along too.

//////////

Miguel’s P.O.V.

After dinner with Lisa and her mother, Janet, they escorted Lisa’s mother back to the hotel she was staying at. Miguel smiled softly as Lisa hugged Janet tightly, saying her goodbyes. It made him reminisce on what might have been with his own mother.

“I had so much fun tonight,” Janet’s smile was practically beaming as she pulled away to cup Lisa’s face. “Don’t forget the extra suitcase I brought for you, and get plenty of sleep for tomorrow.”

“I promise, mom,” Lisa smiled back, playfully rolling her eyes at the reminder. “Old habits die hard.”

Janet nodded at Lisa before pulling away completely, and looked over towards Miguel. Miguel immediately stiffened, snapping to attention when Janet approached him. To his surprise, she offered him her hand.

“It was very lovely meeting you, Miguel,” Janet offered Miguel a genuine smile. “I can certainly see why Lisa likes you.”

“Aww, mom. . .” Lisa’s cheeks flushed, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked off to the side.

Miguel couldn’t help it as a snicker escaped his lips, shaking his head. He reached over and shook Janet’s hand, offering her a warm smile in return. “It was a pleasure meeting you as well, Mrs Kend– ah, Janet, sorry. Lisa has always spoken highly of you. You’ve raised a wonderful woman.”

“I would certainly hope so,” Janet smiled as she glanced over at her daughter with a teasing look. “I didn’t go into early labor for nothing, you know!”

Lisa’s eyes went wide. “Mom!”

“I’m teasing, dear,” Janet’s lips curled wider as she snickered. “You’ll make sure my sweet Lisa gets back home safe, Miguel?”

Miguel couldn’t help himself even more as he laughed, bringing a hand up to his mouth to calm himself down. “Of course, ma’am. I always do,”

“Such a gentleman,” Janet squeezed Miguel’s hand briefly before pulling her own away. “I’ll see you both tomorrow!”

Miguel could still feel his heart pounding in his chest as he drove Lisa back to her apartment. From all accounts, it appeared he had gotten Lisa’s mother’s approval. She genuinely liked him, and that statement alone made Miguel feel so over the moon with relief.

He helped carry the suitcase into Lisa’s apartment, setting it down on the couch with a grunt. It was surprisingly heavy. “What’s even in here?”

“When my stay in Korea was extended for the foreseeable future at the time, mom packed extra goodies from home for me to try and combat the homesickness,” Lisa explained as she began to unzip the suitcase, pulling the lid open and she gasped. “Oh, yes!!”

“What?” Miguel stepped closer, peering over her shoulder. “What is it?”

It couldn’t be new clothes, she has a closet full of them already. Was it spare medkits? More household items she’ll need to make her everyday life easier?

None of the above.

“Mama came in clutch!” Lisa squealed, clapping happily.

The suitcase was filled to the brim with books, video games and a gaming console.

“No puedo mas,” Miguel grumbled, face palming as he shook his head. - I can’t even

“Hey, what’s with the judgy face?” Lisa retorted as she grabbed a handful of books, setting them aside.

“If my brother were here and he saw all of this? If you two are friends now, after this you two would be insufferable,” Miguel huffed, slouching on the couch next to the suitcase.

“Is he a gamer?” Lisa asked with a curious twinkle in her eye as she started to pile the games onto the coffee table.

“Well he’s not called the ‘King of Virtual Reality’ for nothing,” Miguel shook his head, coming off as a disappointing gesture, but deep down, he was actually proud of his brother’s work.

“Why didn’t he say so before?” Lisa’s eyes widened. “I should invite him over for a game session sometime,”

“Oh no, I hardly get to see you with these new security measures in place,” Miguel stated as waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “I ain’t sharing.”

“And who’s idea was it for said new security measures?” Lisa narrowed her eyes towards Miguel in a teasing manner.

Miguel rolled his eyes at her as Lisa started to lift the gaming console out of the suitcase and set it by the TV. Miguel’s back straightened as he sat up, watching her fiddle with the console’s wiring. “What are you doing?”

“Setting up the console,” Lisa answered, glancing over at him.

“Um, no?” Miguel shot her a questionable look with an eyebrow raised. “You promised your mom you’d get enough sleep for tomorrow’s show, it’s almost 11pm,”

“But video games!” Lisa sulked, a soft whine escaping her. “I haven’t played this for over a year,”

“Nope,” Miguel exclaimed, shooting up from the couch. “Bedtime,”

“Miguel, what are you–?!” Before Lisa could say anything else, Miguel suddenly scooped up Lisa in his arms, throwing her over his shoulder as he hooked his arm around her waist to keep her from falling. “Miguel!!”

“Don’t make me tattle on her,” Miguel grinned, snickering.

“Miguel, put me down!” Lisa gawked, laughing as her hand smacked against his back.

All Miguel did was laugh in response as he stalked over to Lisa’s bed, pulling back the curtain. Kneeling at the edge of the bed, Miguel reached for Lisa and carefully laid her down on the mattress. His hand cradled the back of her head as Miguel set her down, smiling down at her.

“Now be my smart girl and get ready for bed, please,” He emphasized, his hands now on either side of her head.

Lisa’s cheeks flushed at his close proximity. She sighed, looking up into his eyes. “Fine, only because you said please.”

“Thank you, mi Mona Lisa,” Miguel’s face softened as he chuckled, his fingers brushing some hair away from her face.

As he looked at her, at that moment all he could think of was the one question he asked her during dinner.

Is that something you want?

The idea of getting to that point with her. . . Going all the way. . .

It caused Miguel’s heart to burn, turning his blood hot as he stared at her with such love and longing. But he also knew that he couldn’t rush into it. As tender as this moment was right now.

Ji-Ho left more than just mental scars, Miguel. . .

That arrogant bastard. Miguel swore an oath to himself right there and then, that when the time came when Lisa felt she was ready to be physical with him, he’d make it special for her. He promised himself that he’d make up for the precious lost time and wasted memories that befell on her. Miguel would do everything in his power to make it so magical, the very essence of that k-pop wannabe will be erased from Lisa’s mind for the rest of her life.

Miguel lowered his head, first kissing Lisa’s forehead before his lips trailed down her face. His soft touches made Lisa squirm, giggling before his lips finally found hers. The kiss he planted on her lips was slow, tender and sweet, and judging by the enamored gaze Lisa was giving him, the look he gave her as he pulled away sent chills down her spine.

As it did for him.

“Your mother isn’t the only one looking forward to seeing you on that stage,” Miguel grinned as he pulled away.

Lisa’s eyes widened, sparkling in delight as she sat up. “You’ll be there,”

A portal opened up behind Miguel as he offered Lisa a proud grin. “I wouldn’t miss it for the multiverse,”

////////

Lisa’s P.O.V.

I barely slept a wink last night. It was a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and the overwhelming urge to just scream that kept me up. Even now as I stood backstage, preparing myself to walk out on that stage in front of all of those people, and on live television for the first time in so long, I wanted to scream. It was finally happening.

I took one more peek past the curtain, watching as METRO BOOMIN who had just moments ago walked out on stage to introduce himself to the crowd, hyped them up with this upcoming song. His new song, the one that my friends and I would be performing to. I scanned the crowd, and smiled when I saw two familiar faces.

Miguel and my mother.

My fingers curled, holding my fist close to my chest. This was for them. For Miguel, my mom. . . and for dad. I looked up into the sky, wondering if he was watching me right now. But perhaps not just them. . . if Jin was watching too, I could show him how much I’ve grown since camp.

Footsteps caught my ear as I lowered my fidgeting hands and turned, finding my friends approaching me. We were all dressed in our spider costumes. We worked hard, we practiced and we trained for this very moment. To show the world what we could do.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked them, trying to sound encouraging.

“You bet!” Hannah cheered.

“Let’s rock their socks off!” Touga cheered, his brother jumping up and down to psych himself up.

I looked over towards Kasey, who had decided to remain quiet since our last conversation, at least towards me anyways. From meeting up with the others to get to the venue before the event security guards invited the public, to changing into our costumes and doing our warm up exercises, she hadn’t said a word to me.

She looked between the three of us before nodding softly. “Let’s do it,”

I offered her a soft, small smile as I extended my fist. “Webslingers on 3?”

One by one, they brought their fists into the little circle, our knuckles brushing against one another. “1, 2, 3, Webslingers!”

We shot our hands into the air, laughing and cheering.

“Alright ya’ll, this is a brand new song I got in store for tonight, and I won’t be doing it alone. Give it up for New York’s very own. . . WEBSLINGERS!” METRO BOOMIN’s voice echoed through his microphone.

“That’s our que!” Hannah’s cheery voice sang as she ushered us to move.

One by one, we made our way out to the stage, the audience showering us with welcoming applause. After offering bright smiles and wide waves, we each took our positions on the stage before I signaled METRO that we were ready.

“Let’s get to it!” He cheered.

///////

Miguel’s P.O.V.

A chorus of violins coursed through Miguel’s ears, playing a pleasant and angelic like melody. One by one, spotlights shined on Lisa and her friends as they began to move, as if they were being whisked away like clouds.

“Not done fightin', I don't feel I've lost

Am I dreamin', is there more like us?

Got me feeling like it's all too much

I feel beaten, but I can't give up~”

The bass kicked in, and the crowd began to howl and cheer in anticipation, getting a feel for the rhythm and the beat. Miguel swayed with them, glancing down at Janet who had a proud look on her face, eyes watering as she couldn’t steer her gaze off of Lisa, and never could he. The song, its lyrics, its melody, entrapped them.

It was as good as Lisa had promised him it would be.

“I'm still fightin' (Metro), I don't feel I've lost

Am I dreamin', is there more like us?

Got me feelin' like it's all too much

I feel beaten, but I can't give up~”

The crowd cheered as the lights kicked back up again, Lisa and her friends literally jumping into the next set as the electric drums pedal guided them with the beat. Lisa and the girls hung back while the twins Toya and Touga stepped up with their duo choreography.

“Uh, wakin' up, feelin' like the thankful one

Count up my ones, lacin' up my favorite 1's

One of a kind, one of one, the only one

Got one shot and one chance to take it once~”

Their movements were so fluid, for a brief moment Miguel wondered if they were even truly human. The crowd cheered them on as their bodies seemed to swerve, leaning into their next set of moves. His gizmo started to go off, and he almost didn’t notice it due to the strobelights and the loud bass pounding in his ears.

“Kiss my mama on the forehead, 'fore I get the code red

'Cause I was born, bred to go in, toast red

And swing by four-ten, beef patty, cornbread

In the concrete jungle, where my home is!”

As Hannah jumped in to join the twins, Miguel glanced down at his gizmo. He noticed Spider-Byte’s caller ID and his eyes flared. He brought his wrist up towards his face, his finger swiping left to answer. “Margo?”

“Miguel, the scanners are fluctuating again, they're off the charts!,” Margo’s voice filtered through the com-link, filled with worry. “I think something big is about to happen,”

Miguel’s eyes immediately began looking around, his infrared scanner embedded into his sunglasses powering on. “Lyla, where is everyone?”

“Pinging you their locations now!” Lyla’s voice echoed in his ears as one by one, Lyla located Spider-Noir, Webslinger, Gwen, and Peter B. Some were hiding among the cosplay crowd, while others were covertly among the shadows.

He initially had only asked Spider-Noir and Webslinger to keep watch. But Miguel had a weird gut feeling in the pit of his stomach. A feeling that kept nagging him all night that something just didn’t sit right, and that this wouldn’t go well.

He hated being right.

“All get focused, all range of toast is

The nickname, Mr. Keen-To-Do-the-Mostest

I was livin' down bad in my folks crib

Now I'm laughin' to the bank and the joke is (no way)

Did more things than folks did or folks get

We've been gettin' this fly since some poor kids

My rich friends and my broke friends co-exist

They love to mix and we know what it is~”

What sounded like lightning crackling, followed by a loud roar of thunder caught Miguel’s ears as his gaze immediately shot upward into the night sky. Just above the Statue of Liberty, sparks flew as before his very eyes, a portal opened up.

Oh shock!

“Team move in,” Miguel commanded. “Lyla, call in backup. Send in anyone you can get a hold of!”

/////////

Lisa’s P.O.V.

The sound of a loud crackling of thunder and lighting made me jump and the music came to a screeching halt. My friends and I looked up towards the sky, in fact everyone did. My body froze, standing in shock as I watched a multiversal portal open up above us.

But not from the Spider-Society.

“AYO, EVERYONE EVACUATE!” METRO BOOMIN yelled out into the crowd.

Harry. . . he was back, only this time he wasn’t sending a Russian spy to take me in.

Toya grabbed Hannah, pulling her to the back of the stage. Touga reached for me, but I leapt out of his grasp as I went straight for Kasey, as she stood as calm as the wind, observing the portal with an almost blank stare.

“Kasey!!” I called out to her.

When she slowly turned to face me, her hand reaching for her cheek, I froze in place, Touga right behind me.

“Well, Miss Lisa,” Kasey’s lips suddenly curled into a dark smile as her fingers dug into her skin.

The gasp that left me felt like I had been punched in the gut as Touga instinctively grabbed me, stepping in front of me as I watched in pure horror as Chameleon ripped off the face mask and removed his disguise.

“Mr. Osborn’s stage is finally set, and it’s time to put on the show,”

Kasey. . . where was Kasey?!

“What. . . where is she?” I was desperately searching for my voice as the crowd shrieked at the man now standing before them.

Chameleon laughed at the question, tossing the face mask aside. I could hear Hannah screaming from behind me, Toya hugging her tightly. Toya muttered a curse in his native tongue, eyes widening, but he didn’t falter.

Not even when Chameleon whipped out a gun and opened fire directly at him, and in that split second, I blanked out.

///////

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popculturebuffet · 5 months

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Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Retrospective Part 1: Breakout (Episodes 1-7) (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Assemble all you happy people and welcome to the first of many looks at one of the greatest cartoons in marvel history, an adaptation that honors the source material while streamlining and improving it to create something impressive. One of the best adaptations and one of the last before the MCU was in full force. It's a show unlike any other, it's Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

And the timing isn't concidential. While i'm a few months off, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the avengers, the first time the team assembled and hulk was a clown for a bit because the 60s. And since I both hadn't really talked about the Avengers on this blog despite being a massive marvel nerd and because i'd rewatched this very arc a few months back, I was happy to jump on it when Kev suggested this. He won't be sticking around for the rest of the retrospective, but I plan to cover this series on and off for the foreseable future as i've only seen about half of it and hadn't rewatched it in years and it was about damn time I did. And i'm glad I am as this is one of the sharpest shows in marvel history.

For those less familiar Earth's Mightiest heroes was a cartoon that ran for two seasons from 2010 to 2012, and was a fan faviorite for most comic nerds like myself, as what I caught of it I love. It's not hard to see why either: EMH is a giant love letter to the Avengers history and Marvel in general: Ciro Nireli, Christopher Yost and Joshua fine, who developed the show, all were clearly fans and thus try to cram as many iconic foes for each of the avengers as they could into this show, from cameos to arc villians to our big threats, just about every major avengers threat you could want makes it's way into season 1.

It's also a smart remix: The show takes after the earliest days of the team, starting with the original roster of Iron Man (Tony Stark), Ant-Man/Giant Man (Hank Pym), Wasp (Janet-Van Dyne), Hulk, and Thor (Odinson), while soon adding cap as happened in the comics, as well as adding longtime mainstays hawkeye and black panther soon into the season, with many of season 1's episodes adapting early avengers tales and the art style is a very stylistic jack kirby style art, while still being it's own thing with a bit more expression and some anime styling in the eyes and how the action unfolds.

That said it's clear the crew was also aware those early tales could use a coat of paint and thus the series takes from all across the heroes histories, combining Kang's first apperance with the later epic kang dynasty for instance, or setting up Carol Danvers becoming Ms Marvel as soon as Captain Marvel debuts. It's a streamlined approach that feels like what the ultimates should've been: honoring the past but looping in the present, with the classic avengers being assembled using the breakout arc from the new avengers. More ont hat later. The result is a fresh take on the cast that feels awesome.

It also feels unique as this was before a LOT of change swept through the marvel universe and productions: the x-men and the ff still show up beofre their LONG unecessary hiatus due to marvel being dicks about not owning either's film rights, the mcu was just budding so only iron man is modeled after that version as Cap and Thor's films would air the same year as EMH, and Black Widow is a recurring character rather than part of the team, though it was hinted they might have her join up eventually.

It also happened before a lot of comics biggest events of the 2010s, which like the MCU stuff isn't bad at all, it's just neat to see just how diffrent things were: Carol Danvers wasn't captain marvel yet, next gen heroes like Ms Marvel or Miles Morales weren't around, and ideas like Jane as Thor or Sam Wilson as Cap hadn't happened. It's an intresting time capusle of a comics brand before it changed forever.

So opening this capusle is a treat. As for this batch of episodes, EMH started in a unique way: With shorts. See at the time cartoons were just starting to captalize on the concepts of minisodes, tiny shorts in continuity usually distributed via youtube. Most shows just have some skits, like Lapis trying to destroy her phone thinking Steven's trapped or Tilly Green getting buried in cats

EMH decided to get ambitious with theres: TWENTY shorts, all from what I can tell intended to be repackaged as full episodes, all setting up important stuff for the series and serving as introductions to our main cast before they all assemble properly, including later additions Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Panther.

It's an approach I respect: much like the MCU was doing around the same time, it allows the writers to set up each character, get to know who they are as a person, what their deal is and put them into place for the series proper, essentially giving them their own solo series like they had in the comics. It's a great idea and makes these feel like characters who had their own lives and plenty of adventures BEFORE we step into them, and makes the idea of them coming together all the more awesome. It also fits the avengers well: the x-men and fantastic four are largely their own spheres of the marvel universe and most members of those teams were created for them. With the avengers it's marvels' best and brightest all assembled into one massive dream team, so showing said team's adventures. We even get setup for later additions to the team: Black Panther gets a short detailing his origin story and Hawkeye is a key part of hulks before getting his own.

I have only two gripes with this setup: the first is that it's long. It's well done and important but it's still a LOT of setup, and both times i've found myself happy to get to the end: Glad I took the journey but thankful we can get to the main event.

The other is the structure: as a result of them being shorts every non-thor episode here has one segment that serves as an epilogue to the others.. but really dosen't lead as effortlessly in. It feels like the episode ended and we're now just in an extended post credit's sequence. Not a bad one, all of these are necessary and important, it just shows why this type of structure wasn't repeated: it has it's limits, and they show at the end of almost every episode. You could for instance cut out the kang bit that starts the cap one and the kang segment that ends the cap ones and have a cohesive story. Their still GOOD shorts, it's just clear they don't quite work as a cohesive episode, which woudln't be an issue if these shorts also weren't clearly part of the season order.

Still I admit these are minor complaints. They drag the presentation down slightly.. but not enough for me to not have enjoyed this episode pile. So assemble under the cut as I break down the first 7 episodes of Avengers: EMH

Iron Man is Born! (Micro Episodes: Iron Man is Born!, HYDRA Lives, Behold, The Mandroids!, and Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

So our first episode. .is third on disney+. Getting this out of the way if you watch these on disney +, start with this one, as disney mildly messed up the airing order. It isn't as bad as say Ducktales was at first, which was so bad the creators had to ask directly, but it's still very noticable disney coudln't be arsed to.. move two episodes on the list they gave people down a few slots. Then again this is the same company who won't give us the weekenders dammit, so i'm not surprised, just mildly in convinced.

Anyways this short follows Iron Man and as we go through our mightiest heroes, I thought it'd be fun to give my own personal history with each character. As I said, I really haven't gotten to dive into the avengers on this blog. I've covered Avengers #200 and Avengers Annual #10 this year but the former is more a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants story guest starring Ms Marvel and the Avengers, and the former.. is a nightmare from which there is no waking where only The Scarlet Witch and the Vision are remotely in character. Neither were really a time to talk about the team, the members of said team, or anything besides deep hurting and an antidote for said deep hurting that involves Carol Danvers verbally bitchslapping the avengers. Which is awesome, but not really a time to go "Gee this is why iron man is so great".

So starting with the cool exec with a heart of steel, I'm a pretty big iron man fan. I love Tony as a character a guy whose arrogant and overly macho at times.. but deep down is a man who just wants to make a better world after helping burn it to the ground for a profit. Someone who can be an arrogant know it all ass.. but also someone who once you've got his loyalty, he'd die for you. A man struggling with addiction, but whose also a poster boy for getting better.

I became a fan of Tony's around the movie, as before that I only really knew him as "that guy who was on spider-man once", "that weird cartoon I watched once or twice" or "That fucking asshole who ruled the superhero community with an iron fist and kicked every dog he could find post civil war".

Thankfully the movie changed that, and along with finding out his fascinating history and the utterly awesome run by Matt Fraction that launched alongside the movie, something I badly want to cover in some form at some point, I was a fan of shell head for life. My favorite runs for him aren't anything suprising: Fraction's run with invincible iron man, Dennis O'Neil's awesome epic run that sees Obdiah Stane break tony with every intention of having his enemy relapse and see's tony rebuild himself while Rhodey puts on the suit, and of course the classic Layton and Michillne run that introduced Tony's Alcholism in the first place.

The movie is important to this series as it not only launched the MCU, but said MCU incoming is likely why it happened, and while it was still young enough at the time to not impact this series heavily for most characters, that wasn't going to happen with tony. Tony, his CFO Pepper and his best friend and military liaison Rhodey, are all heavily modeled after the movie versions. That said given said versions are entirley accurate to the comics and all the MCU did to Tony was give him even more swagger.. this isn't remotely a bad thing and making sure kids had the iron man they were familiar with dosen't hurt the series. The suit's still more designed after the then current bleeding edge suit from the comic, one of my favorites. I have no issue with using stuff from the MCU, the mcu is mostly great. My issue is when latter stuff kinda.. ignores the comics except to bring in more people to punch.

Iron Man is Born gets tony down pat, in large part thanks to his VA, Eric Loomis. To my shock Loomis hasn't done a ton outside of play tony in this show and various video games but damn if few do it better. He gets the swagger, the desire to do better, and the stubborn ass refusal to let people help him down PERFECT, as does the writing. This is tony stark. Leading with him was also smart given, again the movie would be fresh on everyone's mind.

What's also neat about this one is it dosen't put tony up against any familiar foes. We'll still see some in Breakout and like the other heroes here he's already well experienced by the time the series opens up. The only thing close to it is Ultimo, a giant robot he fights in cell phone footage at the start of the episode, and even then that's just to establish Iron Man Slaps.

No instead it sells Tony's obession with his tech not hurting people by putting him up against some HYDRA robots using his tech. For those less familiar with marvel stuff, HYDRA are a bunch of snake themed nazi offshoots who are everywhere and generally the go too mook to punch in the face in the marvel universe. Who dosen't want to punch a snake nazi? Except bob. He's just there for dental. Oh bob.

The fight with said HYDRA bots is awesome: not only are they well designed, but it's classic iron man stuff: his suit running out of power, and tony having to use his brains, and hold out against his suit rapidly draining. Been used before? Sure. Helps establish how Tony fights and how his suit is both super strong and has a logical weakness in battery life? Yup.

And the best part is.. while HYDRA are his main threat... the real conflict simmering underneath this one.. is Stark vs S.H.I.E.L.D. the world's top super cops and shady assholes. Wether their being actually helpful or being obtuse and trying to obstruct the hero largely depends on the day, with the MCU making them more helpful and less greasy.

See SHIELD is mad Tony stopped making weapons. Tony is mad they won't quit bugging him about that, as he simply.. dosen't want to be an arms dealer no more. Which is fair. He made their weapons, and as he makes clear to Rhodey who also wants him to work closer with SHIELD, he's still HELPING them. He just won't build weapons. As we find out in breakout he built the Vault, one of four supervillian prisons , this one specializing in tech criminals. So he hasn't STOPPED helping them, he just wont' give them tech to go kill people with, which is fair. While they don't give his origin, at least not yet, it's very clear whatever version of it taught him the same lesson: just because someone else fires the gun dosen't mean you won't have blood on your hands.

So naturally SHIELD"S reaction to Iron Man taking down HYDRA.. is to try to arrest him

Yeah Tony has.. done ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong here.. and Nick Fury, for all his flaws we'll see in VERY short order, is not so stupid as to fire and orders them to stand the fuck down. The fuck is implied.

Tony trying to help them.. instead gets them to fire on him as the SHIELD Agents are using mandroids powered armors using tony's tech.. and unlike the comics where he BUILT the mandroids for them as a compromise, no lethal weapons but still a way to be on even foot with superheroes, here they just flat out used his blueprints to make their own weapons and expect him not to be mad. He has no right to get mad at them for doing this, he sold them the goods and clearly gave them enough legal room to do whatever, but they have no right to be mad at him for SAVING THEIR LIVES.

And they are as while Tony takes down the last hydra bot that suddenly wakes up, when he shows up at the hellicarrier, RIGHTFULLY pissed at being fired on and having them make their own iron man.. maria hill, Nick's right hand and like the comics a total asshole, PUTS A GUN TO HIS HEAD

I mean yes she has him surrounded by shield agents and if fighting them tony would half to hold back.. but he's still a man in a mostly powered armored suit that can suplex a train, while your only strategy is "hope he's really scared of a hand gun".

Fury wisely asks her to stand the fuck down, again fuck's implied, and we get a really compelling argument with him and tony: Tony has every right to not want to sell weapons, while Fury makes the point that with supervillians ont he rise they NEED this tech to compete. Tony still wins in my eyes mostly because while yes he's witholding tech and what not.. SHIELD... isn't hurting. They made the mandroid armors, they have the tech to compete with the hydra bot likely bodying them because it has the element of suprise. THey have a giant hellicarier, tons of staff, and plenty of super powered allies help keeping the various super prisons safe. Granted all four prisons are about to become paper mache, but that's not down to SHEILD being stupid. While Tony dosen't SAY it to his face, which given this is tony is a fucking achivement... the issue isn't that Fury can't handle these or the various super powered heroes out there don't have this covered for now. It's that Fury dosen't have CONTROL over it. IT's a problem inherent in most versions of Nick: it's not enoguh to be the world's top cop he has to CONTROL the situation, the info everything. He's often resonable sure but he puts control over what makes sense and antagonizes valuable allies simply by not respecting they want autonomy.

Our backup story is really just "why nick fury is badass" and "Why hydra is super dangerous". Turns out Fury has their leader, Baron Strucker. Strucker is an egotistical nazi who frequently runs hydra and is Nick's arch enemy and opposite number. So this whole mech thing.. was a smokescreen to get one of their agents, The Grim Reaper in.

The Grim Reaper in the comics is the brother of Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. We'll get into him more next time as he has a full episode coming up, but long story short, he died, Grim blamed the avengers, and then he tried to kill his brother when Simon came back because he'd put simon on a pedestal. Here the two are pretty much detached and Grim is instead hydra's top enforcer, single handidly breaking in and wrecking up the place, only stopped, and captured alongside strucker, because Nick Fury is that badass. He also life drains fury a bit, giving him his signature white streak from the comics.

Thor The Mighty (Microepisodes: Thor the Mighty, The Siege of Asgard, My Brother My Enemy and the Isle of Silence)

As I said Thor the Mighty is the only one of these episodes that feels like a mostly cohesive 22 minute episode. I mean you can still see the seams where the shorts were, but it's one 22 minute story instead of one long story and one short one connected to the first. It's also not suprisingly my faviorite, but not just for this reason but for having some gorgeous action, great character work and a hell of an ending.

Before all that we have to talk about the god of thunder. Thor's a character I love, I mean I have a mjonr I got a yard sale somehwere around here. But he's also one i'm pickier on story wise: you either have to REALLY sell the scope and granduer of asgard, as done by Walt Simonson, god among men, and currently Al Ewing or do something fresh with it like the start of Jason Aaron' srun, Donny Cate's recent run or my all time faviorite thor story, J MIcheal Strazenzki's run. Thor's not a bad character but there is a tendency to focus on ye olde english and not on him as a person.

EMH thankfully sidesteps that. It shows thor as fucking awesome and has him do cool stuff.. but it also emphasises who the odionson is and WHY he prefers our world over his own. We start with his daily routine: finding some supervillians to punch. He fights the wrecking crew. The Wrecking Crew are villians I like, marvel's designated Jobbers. If you need someone to get their face punched in these are the guys. They CAN be dangerous, see the avengers storyline under sige where the four of them together bodied a slightly frazzled hercules, but their primary there to show up and get knocked down: their strong enough to fight thor, having asgardian enchanted construction tools.

But still not SO strong that say spidey , the runaways or whoever needs a pick me up this week can't body these jackasses. So their the perfect starter foe for thor: powerful enough to give him a good scrap, but not nearly as strong as what he faces on his home turf.

It also serves as a handy intro to Thor's love interest, Jane Foster. The film takes her from a doctor to a paramedic, ironically years before the comics would do the same, and it's a great update: Since Thor isn't spending time as mortal doctor Donald Blake here, there's no real reason for her to be at his practice as a nurse then doctor. Instead she's in the field trying to save lives just like him, and is shown to be fearless DESPITE being a squishy human, getting out to help someone the wrecking crew hurts without any hesitation while her partner cowers in the car instead of helpign. I mean .. I get it , supervillians, but yoru a fucking emt man. Your job is to save lives even at your ownr isk.

Thankfully thor provides backup. And cleans house. The Wrecker TRIES to hold jane hostage, with Thor chastising his lack of honor.. before smacking him in the back of the head with mjonir because hammer's don't respect chilvarly. Thor and Jane hit it off, and I like how even if Jane's entirely in this series to be thor's love intrest.. they give her personality and a reason he falls for her: she's just as dedicated to her job of helping people, and Thor is awed by the fact that DEPSITE not having the powers of a god and being at high risk she does it anyway. Which for us is a normal thing but for thor.. sums up why he likes Midgard so much. On asgard heroisim happens all the time, death is an endless cycle. Here humans are fragile.. but the best of us try to help each other anyway.

Thor is played by Rick D Wasserman and as you can wager i'm mostly focusing on the main cast's voice actors for this review. I"ll point out some others, for instance Jane is voiced by VA legend Kari Whagreen whose also played Charmcaster in the ben 10 franchise and Saturn Girl in the awesome Legion of Superheroes cartoon i'm bound to cover at some point, it's just EMH has a MASSIVE cast and introduces a lot of characters in the span of these 7 episodes, so adressing every single one is a lot to ask. I will try to adress the most important ones and some in future reviews as the voice cast here is positively stacked.

Which makes it weird that once again one of the main cast is a pretty low key voice actor: like with Iron Man, Thor's va did his voice for Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and Marvel Ultimate ALliance 3, but otherwise hasn't really done much else in the main roll. And given just how well Rick slides into the roll of thor as if he was born for this it befuddles me.

But we, and the god of thunder, have bigger issues..s pecifically frost giants thor writing shorthand for "We wanted something big for him to hit" I can only think of one run in recent memory that hasn't invovled thor hitting a frost giant in the face.

Turns out their invasion is being led by Loki. Loki here is another intresting time capsule as a combination of Tom Hidelston's standout performance in Thor and Avengers and character defining runs I need to read and finish respectively from Kireon Gilleon and Al Ewing placed Loki squarely in the anti hero position. As such instead of the genderfluid trickster we know and love, this is the old school loki they were for much of their run and what loki at present is deeply afraid of becomiing again: manipulative, evil and hellbent on burning down everything his dad and brother built.. if with a dope horn helmet. He at least has that.

As such this loki gets into a badass fight with thor, with Thor BEGGING his brother to reconsider.. but it falling on deaf sweet horn helmets. Loki wants to burn it all. Thankfully Thor is able to beat him and being thor does it in the most badass way possible.. gatherting a GIANT STORM above him before focusing all it's energy into a massive lightning bolt. And those horns are really good conductors.

Odin, who sat this one out as his powers are weak at the moment, more on that in a sec, punishes Loki by banishing him to thei isle of silence. It's one of his faviorite pastimes. The other is questioning his son's life choices, wanting Thor to stay to guard Asgard while Odin takes a nap. It's why he was weak: Once a year Odin enters the odinsleep for a few months, to a week to a day. Whatever's narratively convent. It's how he recharges.

Thor.. dosen't want to as he's needed on earth and the two get into a snit and what I like is it's well ballanced: Odin isn't wrong to want his son to protect the kingdom that will one day be his.. but Thor isn't wrong that the warriors three and sif, his best friends and badass warriors, can do the job and Thor is only one call away if needed. Odin bringing up Jane dosne't help as Odin comes off as being a spying dickhead which.. he is. He entirley is. So Thor leaves in a huff.

And so we get our final segment.. which unlike the others ties in directley. We see Loki in the isle of silence, which is neatly depecited as a black and white void with no sound. Loki is visited by the Enchantress. The Enchantress is a powerful sorceress whose vane as she is obessed with thor, but dosen't understand he's just not that into her for being you know.. manipulative, cruel and trying to kill his friends. Turns out, in classic loki fashion, this was ALL his plan. ALLL of it.

He set up thor to run into the wrecking crew by spying on them taking a job for the Leader, more on him later, having the Enchantress disguise herself as a regular woman , i.e. just a green dress, and point thor their way. Fun fact: She and jane have the same VA. Funner fact: Loki is voiced by Scottish actor Grahm McTavish of the Hobbit and Outlander fame. Both do a terrific job.

Loki then pretended to be Baulder, Thor and Loki's third brother and painted what Thor was doing as egocentric hot doggin and grand standing and the Jane thing as more serious than "They just met". All of this was part of a larger scheme... all going to plan.. and neither the god of thunder nor his neglectful dad have any idea they were played. Granted Loki's scheme would fall apart of Odin brought up that conversation with baulder to the brave himself, but while a risk.. Loki still wasn't TOO reckless with this: in any other thor story this would be highly stupid. Here it's risky, but with Odin going into the Odinsleep soon and Loki's plan HINGING on his dad being in the odinsleep anyway, it gives his plan a VERY small window for fuckups.

And what is his plan?

I genuinely forgot what his grand plan was other than "conquer asgard" but we'll find out as the season unfolds. For now we move on to another hero..... some call him a man, some call him a monster.. but is he both?

Hulk Vs the World ( Microepisodes: The Coming of the Hulk! , Hulk Vs the World, This Monster, This Hero!, and Beware the Widow's Bite!)

Now we talk about the strongest one there is, the man whose wrecking the town with a power of the bull, ain't no monster clown, he's that loveable and ever lovin Hulk. And sometimes immortal, grey and what have you but point is Hulk slaps.

Yeah like Tony I love me some hulk: I haven't read nearly enough of his earlier stuff but I adore the late 80's early 90's run of peter david, one i'm just one digital omnibus away from having the complete run of at the time of this writing, and Al Ewing's recent and incomprable Immortal Hulk, which I REALLY need to cover and just. .haven't. Hulk's just a good character: A man with DID who turns into the literal represntations of the emotions he represses: his rage, his childlike innocence that his abusive dad made sure he never had, his need for a father, his hornier and more traditionally masculine traits... Hulk is an endlessly fascinating character.

And the show does him good, partly by exploring a key part of Hulk's marvel history: the fact that for the vast majority of it.. he's an outsider. Oh sure Hulk will show up for crossovers if needed and what not, but most of the time people treat him as a giant monster to be put down instead of simply an angry, powerful being tired of people trying to kill him. Hulk is oft pegged as a monster, and can often turn on his own allies thorugh bad luck or simply a poopy mood. Most people in Hulk's suppporting cast care about BANNER not hulk, while Bruce is often hunted simply because.. he has a mental illness. Granted most mental illnesses can't suplex a train, but many people genuinely don't seem to CARE that Bruce isn't responsible for what hulk does. Hulk is part of bruce banner.. but he's NOT bruce. And the poor guy is constantly hunted for something he tries to cure or control but often simply can't.

EMH emphasies this as when we meet Bruce he's deshevled, in a hat, looking like the unibomber and getting harassed by the police like one. And this is a Bruce who as we learn later ACCEPTS that hulk is part of him: he dosen't LIKE turning into a rage monster, no one does, but he acknowledges the big guy can do things he can't and that curing him simply hasn't worked. He's someone trying to manage his condition: until now staying away from population centers and only going into them.. because he's worried.

This is also our intro to our second of the four supervillian prisons, the Cube. The Cube is a heavily locked down place for radiation based supervillians, mostly gamma mutates like Bruce himself. And in a fitting shift instead of being a place to stash away or rehabilitate their foes.. the cube is basically one giant lab and Bruce fears it's purpose.. is to create a hulk SHIELD can control. It gives a reason to why he runs: Sure the Cube has facilities to help.. but one hulk is already incredibly dangerous and barely managable. Now imagine if say it goes wrong and hulk ends up with no brain or concense like the current hulk, just PURE. RAGE.

Or they succed in making a super solider with gamma power.. but he simply dosen't want to do what they ask and has all the power of a hulk but none of the restraint, and all the ingellgence to misuse it.

Or you get someone with repressed issues and DID like bruce.. but you get something darker than a cranky teenager who just wants to be left alone

Granted that last one didn't turn out so bad but Bruce's point is easy to see just looking at the comics or basic logic: Making more monsters is way too big a gamble and as we saw with SHIELD in the Iron Man episode, they aren't exactly moral paragons to begin with. Fury will go to any lengths to make a safer world... so whose to say even IF best case scenario we get a she hulk style transformation... that fury can be TRUSTED with that power.

So Banner goes to get some answers. Bruce is played by Gabriel Mann, who played Alan M in the JOsie and the Pussycats film I need to cover, and also played Bruce in Wolverine and the X-Men, which shares a universe with this show. More on that later. He does a great job selling Bruce's fear but also compassion.. he wants to CURE the target he's after, Absorbing Man.

Absorbing Man, aka Crusher Creel, is another frequent Jobber of the marvel unvierse, though unlike the Wrecking Crew he's slightly less of a joke, though like them he started with Thor. Unlike them he became more of a hulk villian and a general marvel villian. If they need someone dumb and powerful, Crusher is their go too. In the comics he also has a wife Titania, also a super villian. They have an adorably healthy and happy marriage.

So naturally Crusher.. wants nothing to do with this and wants to instead punch the hulk. He gets his wish.. but then gets plenty of punches back. The Hulk here is based more on then recent Planet Hulk Storyline: Hulk is still not super smart, but isn't thuggish like say Joe Fixit or sadistic like Devil Hulk. He's just savage hulk if given the chance to learn and evolve: all the power, all the rage.. but with SOME smarts and dry quips. He eventually flattens Abosorbing Man easily after a brief fight.

Hulk himself is played by Fred Tatiscore. Much like Thor and Iron Man's VA"S, Tatiscore is marvel's go to for the hulk for adaptations, and has played him a LOTTT: Ultimate Avengers 1 and 2, Avengers Next, Avengers Assemble, Hulk Vs(Also part of this continuity), Wolverine and the X-Men, Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man (Cartoon), The Incredible Hulk Tie IN game, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, All three Marvel Ultimate Alliances. If you want someone mean and green you go with Fred and that's JUST his rolls as hulk. Fred is a prolific voice actor with a WIDE list of credits. This isn't even his only roll in this SERIES, but we'll get to that. If you want a good gravely voice, Fred Tatsicore is your man.

So Hulk is no sooner done punching his daily asshole when General Ross shows up.

So for those who haven't had the distinct pleasure of meeting this twatballoon before, General Ross is one of Hulk's two main arch enemys, the other one we'll meet later. He's the old man who ruins everything, a hard nosed general who already didn't like banner and hunts him and hulk like a monster, and is LARGELY responsible for both the hulk being treated like a monster (though his earlier, far shadier versions didn't help), and for Banner being hutned like one. If someone's going to fuck a situation that could've helped the hulk up, it's this fucking guy. It's shown here brilliantly as one of his men questions WHY banne'rs here.. and ross dosen't care. He can interogate banner later, not getting that bruce wont' want to help him.

Ross charges in with a bunch of smashable robots, but is ordered to stand down by the Black Widow and Hawkeye, in their classic outfits. For Nat it's .. really the same as the movies, for Hawkeye.. he has an actual costume instead of purple spandex and maybe sunglasses... please bring this outfit back.

Thankfully Clint isn't a piece of cardboard like the MCU , though he is an agent of SHIELD since Thor was in production and the Ultimate Unvierse existed. The two plan to subdue the hulk.. yes the martial arts master who is great in hand to hand and the expert marksman... think they can take down the hulk. or at least hold him off. Hulk is less than impressed but has bigger worries as Ross FIRES A MISSLE AT TWO SHIELD AGENTS DESPITE BEING ORDERED TO STAND DOWN

Seroiusly ross you fired on two fedral agents. I'm shocked he wasn't disohnorably discharged but he's gotten away with worse in the comics.

Thankfully hulk beats missle.. and we get a heartbreaking moment as Ross's stupidity and the hulk reflecting the missle nearly downs a hellicarrier... Hulk saves it.. and is taken in anyway. Always hunted, always alone with Banner's cries of having actually made the hulk work and not wanting to be cured falling on the deaf ears of Doc Sampson, usually Hulk's therapist here just a scientest.. and an asshole. Hawkeye though buys it.. unfortuantely he thenf inds out Black Widow is seemingly a tratior and she betrays HIM, framing him for working with hydra. So yeah this one ends with our heros impreioned for doing nothing wrong, the bad guys ahead and things about to get so much worse.

And if you thought we were done with downer endings well.

Meet Captain America (Meet Captain America, The Red Skull Strikes!, If This Be Doomsday!, Come the Conquerer)

Almost forgot this till I was done with this section: So I fucking love Steve Rogers. Loyal to nothing but the dream, kind, thoughtful and a badass through and through. That said when it comes to solo stuff it's hit and miss. I've come around to Ed Brubaker's run as while the winter soldier itself has lost a little impact with the fog of ages, Bucky's turn as cap is great, what i read of Ta'Nesi Coates run is fantastic, and I love Mark Gruenwald's lengthy run. I like cap, he can just be very hit and miss for me on his own, but usually if he's in a team he slaps and there's a reason he's key to the avengers.. and getting his own episode despite not being there for the origin story.

Meet Cap is a fun WII adventure, reminding me of the First Avenger despite coming first. It's got a lot of silver age charm and pep to it as Cap breaks into a hydra castle with the Howling Commandos. The Howling Commandos are Nick Fury's WWII running buddies in the comic and his dad's friends here. The roster's mostly the same, characters I don't really know and who won't be relevant to this show so i'm not going into... except one. He's still not relevant to the show.. but it's a cameo I can't not mention. One of the commandos here is...

YUP. As one of the many subtle hints this is the same continuity as Wolverine Vs X-Men and it's prequel Hulk Vs Wolverine, Logan fucking HOwlett is on the team. He dosen't go snikit either because he dosen't have bone claws in this continuity or simply to keep that under his helmet but it's still neat to see him. THey even got Steven Blum for this tiny apperance. There's small hints like that here and there, with another in the next episode we'll get to but sadly a combination of diffrent networks and Nick screwing over WATXM meant we never got an actual crossover, and Disney screwing over this series meant we never got a fully absorbed finale either. And as should come as no shock as a giant x-men nerd, I plan to cover WATXM after this show.

Anyways, cameos aside it ventually comes down to Cap and Bucky. Bucky is cap's sidekick, and unlike the mcu he' skept to being around 17. This is also one of his first apperances in animation after the landmark winter soldier story recontexutalized Bucky from "Child sidekick who really REALLY shoudln't be fighting WWII" to "that being a propoganda and Bucky being Cap's stealth man who does the stuff too dirty for america's symbol".

As a result this version, at least as Bucky, is voiced by Robin voice actor Scott Melinville, an excellent bit of meta casting given Bucky comes off as a fairly blatant robin clone. The two's banter is genuinely heartwarming as you really get a sense of their friendship.

Cap himself is played by Brian Bloom, who like most of theset voice actors continued the roll for Marvel Vs Capcom 3, it's sequel Infinite, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and unlike the rest recently in Midnight Suns. He's awesome and plays Steve Pitch Perfectly.

So the two's target is Red Skull, Naziism incarnate. He's pure evil, one of the most horrifying villians in the Marvel Universe and one of the few most other villians will nope out of working with being a literal nazi. And not just a snake Nazi, though as he does here he will work with Hydra. He was taught by Hitler himself. Fun fact that's pretty brutal: he has in fact met Magneto, Marvel's #1 holocaust survivior, who held his contempt of the guy long as he could when forced to work with him for acts of vengeance..a nd then first chanc ehe got Erik buired the guy in a bunker with this chilling as it is awesome sequence

This is just one long fun pulp adventure as Cap punches out hydra agents and i'ts revealed the Red Skull was experimenting with the 9 realms of norse mythology and marvel comics. Well 8, he's already on Midgard. His various captured norse creatures escape from fairies to a frost giant he almost kidnapped. it's fun chaotic brawl as many a nazi is eaten and we get some really cool lighting. We also get a mention of a Baron Zemo. This will be importnat later.

The Baron himself is absent though, and rather than being the one escaping on a rocket it's the red skull. And anyone familiar with the comics just tensed up a bit and really even if you aren't.. the fact that this is Cap's origin story, he's getting a full episode, and it's WWII kinda tells you this won't end well.. and it dosen't. Steve prepares to sacrifice himself.. only for Bucky to tell him "The world needs cap more than it needs bucky" and push him off. The Skull and the boy wonder apparently die .. and seemingly so does cap.

Well.. KINDA, as our last short happens: see the cap shorts kicked off with someone watching and we find out it's Kang, the Conquerer

For those who haven't heard of him or seen him thanks to the MCU, and the less said about his actor there the better, Kang is from the 30th century, a time of peace, love and no traffic accidents. And it was BORRRRRIIINNNGGGG to him, so longing for the past he only read about he stole a time machine, and ended up in a savage post apocalypse he eventually conquered and made the bedrock of his empire, using his time travel tech, vast army and genuine stategic knowhow to conquer civlizations throughout time and space.

Here though he seems to have just conquered this future, which is still a lot... but is about to be a little as it's in danger of being erased.. thanks to Cap. Kang is puzzled since if Steve DIED.. then how is he fucking up Kang's day? We get a really cool seuqence of Kang traveling through the previous parts of the episode, trying to figure out what he missed.. and finding steve frozen. Steve lived.. and thus his future will die. He plans to go back and stop this, but his future starts deteroating already, leaving him with just one warship. He TRIES to get his girlfriend Ravona on the ship in time.. but interfernce means she comes in and thus is stuck between fading out of existance. Kang's able to put her in stasis... but to save his empire steve rogers must die.. in about half a season.

Yeah Kang... dosen't come back up for a while and while it baffled me.. the more I thought about the actual two part premire.. the more i relaized why this was there.

The Man in the Anthill (The Man in the Anthill, Enter the Whirlwind, The Big House, Welcome to Wakanda) We end our slew of origin stories with the introduction of Ant Man and the Wasp, my faviorite avengers out of this intial lineup. I love all these characters but Hank and Janet are some of my faviorites in all of marvel. I became a huge fan of Hanks after reading Dan Slott's run on Mighty Avenger where Hank, follow his ex wife Jan's death, takes up the wasp mantle. He also gets into the greatest pissing contest in all of marvel history with reed richards... though in his defense, Red started it

It was a burn so fucking awesome that the rest of Reed's team were all asking him to please, for the love of god call back and apologize. He did not and suffered the consequences. Again story for another day.

With Jan it took some more time but this series and various awesome apperances, chiefly her time in Zeb Wells uncanny avengers and what i've read of Roger Sterns avengers, sold me on the winsome wasp. For good stories for each, for Hank there's the aformentiond Mighty Avengers, Avengers Academy where he serves as headmaster, and West Coast Avengers for his redemption after his mental breakdown and abuse of Jan. For Jan I recommend Stern's avengers, The Unstoppable Wasp which follows Hank's Daughter and Jan's adopted daughter Nadia but heavily features the OG wasp, and most recently the Wasp mini series from king of awesome Al Ewing and it's currently running Followup, Avengers Inc, both things I intend to cover some day.

So for those less familiar with them or more familiar with the MCU versions, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne were founding avengers and the first Ant Man and Wasp, going in and out of the team to retire. They were in love.. but sadly hank's obession with work, undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and Janet marrying him while he thought he was someone else because Hank having a mental breakdown was the PERFECT time to marry him, the marriage fell apart, hank had a large scale mental breakdown and well.. you likely know the rest. Both would rebound with Janet finding a new indpendence and sense of self and Hank , after hitting rock bottom.. .finding the will to live on and atone for the various mistakes he made, first as just Hank Pym then as a superhero but not wearing a costume. I love these characters, their rich history, their powers just all of it. I also love these versions of them: With the baggage of his mental breakdown and the infamous and horrifying slap gone, Hank is back to his roots as a science hero, finding his work the neatest thing in the world, while Janet is back to being hank's younger girlfriend , a social butterfly, and the one helping him get to do all his science stuff by doing the promotion, the last one a clever addition. It takes her later swagger and better writing by writers who knew how women worked as opposed to silver age stan lee who while many impressive things.. could not write a woman who wasn't some form of a sexisim. Likewise Hank ignores jan but it's more "he's a workaholic" and less him ranting about her being a stupid woman and friviolus and I wish I was making this up. It takes the best of them in the silver age, mondernizes and makes it awesome

They also each get a short spotlighting them: The first has Hank researching some Vibranium near wakanda when he has to deal with Klaw. Klaw is a recurring avengers bad guy, black panther bad guy and general punching bag. He's not yet to full costumed villian here, instead just having a giant sound canon instead of having said canon as a new hand. He and some mercs break in to steal the vibranium.. and get utterly wrecked in the best way possible as Hank shrinks, easily dispatches them in a scene straight out of a hroror film as each mook goes unconcious, tehn in an awesome moment, when Klaw uses his really big gun fulla sound to try and blast hank, hank GETS BACK UP and presses a button.. shrinkign EVERYONE present. Also while again i'm not pointing out EVERY villian's va i'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Klaw's is mark fucking hamill.

As for Hanks, Hank is played by Wally Wingert, who for once for this show DIDN'T play this character again in Marvel Vs Capcom 3 because Capcom wasn't awesome enough to include an ant man. THey DID include MODOK who Wingert also plays and got to reprise so he still got a well deserved paycheck. He's also been in Bleach and is the voice of Cubot in Sonic. Who knew. I also love the ending: Jan comes in, we get her adorably just throwing her arms around hank.. and then hank casually asking his girlfriend to go save the mercinaries before his ants eat them

The next one focuses on Jan and also shows the contrast between the two. Hank has super powers.. but prefers his research and rehabilitating criminals, not wanting to fight them. In contrast Jan recognizes sometimes you gotta throw hands, action is her reward, and gladly speeds into battle. We also see that while this hank hasn't spiraled yet.. he still has control issues, showing up wot Jan's battle with Whirlwind and telling her to back down, despite her both making the vallid point they can help people and that she can handle herself. And given she stings teh fucker in the eye and beats a guy with tornado powers with just her stingers and some inginuity yeah, hank ease off there bud.

Jan is voiced by Colleen Ann O'Shaughnessey, a va I grew up with as the Voice of Sora on digimon, a role she STILL has to this day. And if that and Jan wasn't enough she's also Jazz Fenton, a characte ri'll be looking into next year. For now though she just rips as Jan, whose the best of the founding 5. I mean their all pretty great and Hank comes close, but Jan's sarcasm, energy but also her heart and talent make her hard NOT to love.

The third short and the final one focused on our duo is the big house which reveals the third of the prisons: The Big House. Focused more on rehabilitation, the Big House was made by hank, housing a LOT of characters i know. Whirlwind tries to escape. If your curious who this schmuck is, Whirlwind is the closest thing Jan has to an arch enemy: he started out fighting her and hank then started stalking Jan who didn't take it well. He's incapaciated as the big house shrink's it's prisoners. Whirlwind is put back inside.. but is insured by the Mad Thinker that they'll be out soon. It's just a matter of time. The Mad Thinker is a long time fantastic four villian, a mad genius and.. that's basically it. He does have an awesome android though

He's a very good dude.

As for Hank and Jan theyt alk to Nick Fury who wants to recruit them. Jan's all for it but Hank says no.. that being said, it's not just Hank not wanting to be a costumed superhero: he dosen't TRUST nick, dosen't think he genuinely wants to rehabilitate criminals, and dosen't trust shield. And given what we've seen.. he's right. Jan follows Hank's lead, if reluctantly while fury.. berates hank for actually carrying about reform and building villians "Comfier jailcells".

With that we get one last standalone to set up episodes later this season: we see the origin of The Black Panther as his dad dies in comnbat fighting Man Ape, whose not NEARLY as cool or nearly as fun in the comics or this cartoon. Man Ape kilsl his dad with help from Klaw while T'Challa's people.. all agree to this trial by combat bullshit.

T'Challa not taking this shit heads off, takes the Panther Mantel and plans to find Allies. To be continued next time, same as cap. I love the animation on The Black Panther as he skulks around. So damn cool. He's voiced by James C Mathis III a voice actor primarily known for playing the character in this and Marvel Vs Capcom.. infinite this time. He's fantastic. And with that it's time for the MAIN EVENT BABY

Breakout Parts 1 and 2

So here we are, the big one. The reason we're all here> the Main Event. Breakout is the proper premiere for the show, airing before the repackaged episodes above though taking place after. And like the MCU with those episodes in mind it feels like a well built up climax to almost everything in the shorts, while setting up the rest of the season, with what wasn't setup for this being setup for later in the season like Cap, Kang and Black Panther.

Part 1 has the characters still in their own corners of the marvel universe before fate assembles them: Tony breaks up an arms deal between AIM, a bunch of super scientests in neat beekeeper suits who function as world conquerers or arms dealers depending on the day, and Lucia Von Bardis, one of Doctor Doom's minons in Latveria. Iron Man easily stops the sale, especially since it's his tech their selling and warns Doom via his proxy: do not come for his stuff again. He then drops them off at the Vault, talking to Jimmy Woo who sadly isn't as in to close up magic here but has noticed it's security is off and asks Tony for help since he designed it and it's not a weapon. Tony agreees.. but also wants him to make an appointment because Tony is a lot of things.. but he's also a massive asshole no matter where in time and space you find him.

Banner is still in the cube, trying to warn Dr. Sampson of two things: the cube is not a jail but an incubator to make another hulk, and that filling a jail full of super strong gamma mutates and gamma research is a ticking time bomb... and given bruce blew himself up with one he should know.

Thor.. is having a far chiller day of stalking Jane as she does her job since as an EMT she finds trouble and he dosen't exactly have a thor signal. And because she fascinates him, not getting how creepy that sounds. Jane finds it charming, partly because he's built like a norse god and partly because she gets this is less "I need to call shield a god is stocking me" and more "He's REALLY that clueless he dosen't get this is a felony".

Finally we have Hank and Jan on the hellicarrier, with Hank doing mods to the big house and arguing with Nick and Jane sorry she can't take maria hill's offer... only to realize hank had a point when maria won't answer a simple whose that.

It's then chaos breaks out.. as does every super villian at the 4 prisons with the Hellicararrier, which houses the big house, also going offline. Oh and Nick's house just blew up, but that happens every tuesday. You can just ignore that one, don't know why I brought it up.

As you'd guess most of our heroes are soon caught in the middle of it: Iron man flies back to the Vault, getting a heads up from Pepper that SHIELD"S in chaos, but finds all his foes have already kitted up and gang up on him including Crimson Dynamo, his russian equilveant and Blizzard, a villian i've always had a soft spot for who gets a truly awesome look here

Is his look baiscally just captain cold and mr freeze smushed together now? Sure? Does it look fucking dope? yes.

Thanks to SHIELD being stupid though, Iron Man isn't the only hero there and despite nearly blasting him earlier, Hawkeye helps for a sec before fleeing to clear his name. I like this setup for hawkeye as in the comic's hawkeye also started as a costumed criminal thanks to a misunderstanding, a nice way of meshing his mcu/ultimate self with the og. Hawkeye is also one of my faviorite superheroes, and something I can gush about later when Clint properly returns to the story. For now he's just awesome as always.

So Tony decides to escape by BLOWING THE FUCKER UP with his enemies inside

Yeah the civilians have apparently evacuated and the villians scene DO come back but you'd think after a few months after this Tony's go to wouldn't be "Cave a building on them and let god sort it out". Then again this IS Tony Stark we're talking about....

Bruce is IN one of the prisons and thus has a harder time, though there is one silver lining: Dr. Sampson.. is now fully on his side, having realized from the buildling falling apart that Bruce was right about this being a powder keg and promising to help. Granted it's a bit too late but still. The radiation abound has also given the good Doc super strength

Zzzax shows up. Zzzax is an energy being the hulk fights on and off, a big zappy man made of electricty who has a name that's as fun to say as it is to type. Naturally this brings out the other guy and Hulk fights him, winning becasue of course.

In the core of the cube and it's control rooms is the Leader. The Leader is Hulk's arch enemy and polar opposite: Hulk is pure rage and strength, the Leader is a calculated super genius with the durability of any other guy. And unlike the other villians in the other prisons.. Leader has no intention of leaving, to the bafflement of Absorbing Man and Abomination. Abomination is Hulk's other arch enemy, a KGB agent who got caught in a gamma ray blast when Hulk tried to kill the hulk with.. .the same thing that makes the hulk, being almost as strong but retaining his mind.

Leader sends the two to fight hulk as a distraction but once Hulk has them down he flees with Sampson.. and the Leader has his minons back off, explaning WHY he wants to stay in prison: he's going to change the world. And impliclity, what better lair for a super genius gamma mutate than a giant gamma based lab and former prison? It's almost like putting the lab next to the dangerous criminals was a bad idea waiting to blow up in their faces.

Before we move on Leader is played by horror legend Jeffery Combs, most famous for playing Herbet West in Re-Animator and it's sequels. Combs is a large ham supreme, a true craftsman of playing hammy bastards with no morals, and is perfect casting for the Leader, and SHOULD have played him in the mcu. Then again given how little the MCU has acctually DONE with the leader thanks to universal, it's a blessing in disguise. They can use him another way. Lots of mad scientests with no morals in marvel. Leader's story will be continued later, but I coudln't just.. pass by Jeffery Combs. I'm not made of stone.

As for Hank he gets the shit beat out of him by the people he was genuinely trying to help. Which is just.. sad... the problem wasn't hank's idea, a deluxe prison with creepy robots where he genuinely tries to reform people.. it's just most of the criminals were either people he brought in, resenting him automatically, or simply didn't WANT to change. Had he tried it on like the beetle or screaming mimi or someone who genuinely had the potetial to reform who knows what he could've done. Thankfully he's backed up by Jan and the fact he can become a really big man, a GIANT man if you will.

While this goes on Thor.. has a date. Jane gladly listens to his daddy issues, Baldur the Brave had visited earlier.. and Odin hasn't let up on the "come home thing". Jane breaks down "ancient asgardian things beyond your understnading" into what it is "You had a fight with your dad" and tries to convince him to go home and patch things up.. but then thor hears the explosions in the distance and goes to help.

So the bad news is a bunch of our heroes villians are free, with the only ones who aren't.. now running the prison. The WORSE news is that there's one more prison that didn't have a superhero on duty as Thor was out to lunch: the raft, a secret fourth blacksite prison hinted at earlier, containing the highest security cases... and one of them just woke up from a ten year nap, radaiting with power and rocking the helicarrier.

This yelling bearded man is Graviton, also played by Fred Tastiscore, whose hamming it up from here to eternity. He wants Fury dead and tha'ts where part 1 ends.. with him holdling fury hostage and sinking the hellicarrier.

Part 2 opens up with the origin of Graviton: Franklin Hall was a physcist for SHIELD before Fury tried to shut him down... for good reason as while Fury was trying to do this Franklin not only refused but his experiments blew up in his face. Then rather than help Hall.. fury locked him unconcious in the raft. Even the breakout didn't let him out it turned out ot be Baron Zemo. Baron Zemo is one of my faviorite super villians, a genius tactician and son of a nazi what cap fought. Naturally he tells franklin he's been down here for a while, then skedaddles. Unsuprisingly we'll be seeing the martial artist whose so skilled and cunning he's in the same jail as the guy who can make gravity his bitch.

Graviton is distracted by Iron man, who shows up to fight.. but tony gets a refresher in Gravity and gets bounced all the way to the endless cornfields of Kansas. Trust me having been in the car as someone's driven through them, that joke is not an exageration. Ther'es plenty of towns, intresting places.. but also large stretches of corn and nothing. So much corn and nothing.

While Tony calls for a backup suit, Thor tags in, while Hank chews Fury out, especially relevant since Fury refuses to tell them anything at first calling it classified... despite the giant exploding gravity man fighting a god above them.

As for Hulk... Hulk needs a snack. Prison hasn't done wonders fo rhis appittite so he stops at a diner, asking them to get help for Sampson... when Hulk has another guest: his brain buddy bruce who urges Hulk to help as he's the only one that can. Hulk makes the valid if misnthropic poitn that if no one's helped him, why should he.. but Bruce poitns out all the good he can do.. he can be more than the monster they see him as and he knows it. SO Hulk agrees to serve as backup.. provided Bruce make one concession: Hulk becomes the dominant personality and bruce comes out , as we find out later, only once a month.

As we wait to see the results of that deal, Thor gets plumeted to the bottom of the sea and Jan decides she isn't going to stand by anymore.. while Hank is like "NO YOU'LL GET HURT. LISTEN TO ME. " because he hasn't gotten Jan dosen't CARE she can get hurt, knows the risk, and is doing the right thing comma jackass. Jan.. actually puts on a decent showing as her stingers, small lasers , aren't affected by gravity. She is.. but Hank catches her having gotten his giant head out of his ass, while Thor regains Mjonr and tony joins back up. The avengers have.. mostly assemebled.

They still can't make much of a dent though: not only are they still very new at this tea-m thing, but Graviton is still strong enough to body a god: a scientest, a fashioin icon, and billionare mass attempted murderer aren't really going to turn the tide. Unluckily for Franky he decides to get braggy.. and gives too good an intrance cue NOT for someone to stomp in and ruin his day

Graviton: I'm stronger than all of you! I'm the strongest one there is! (BOOM) Hulk: You sure about that?

Hulk is here and easily beats the stuffing out of Graviton. We get a truly EPIC moment too as Graviton tries increasing the gravity on him which only works for seconds at a time as Hulk KEEPS, GETTING, BACK UP. With the others helping, and sometims just.. rushing him, Hulk is able to land the final blow on Graviton. My faviorite moment during this is Wasp lasering a container in half, confused someone's helping him... before Janet helpfully pipes in he's the bad guy. THe two will be incredibly close after this and given they both like hitting things and impulsive desicions, easy to see why.

Well almost final, He still has time to weakly rant before Wasp shuts him up.

Naturally SHIELD"S response to Hulk saving the day, the future avengers lives, and stopping an evil they created.. is to point all their guns at him. This time though Hulk has something he didn't have back in Vegas: Friends. Iron Man refuses to let SHIELD take him and everyone else gladly joins in, Jan naturally being the second most vocal behind tony.

Fury reluctantly gives in, and admits he could use the five's help: the various prison breaks have unleashed 74 other super villians and someone needs to round them up.

Hank.. turns him down, getting one last callout and a very damming one: they CREATED this mess: while Franklin made himself into a living god instead of trying to cure him or turn him into a force for good they locked him away an dhoped he'd never wake up, and new york nearly got leveled. I forgot to mention it somehow but motherfucker LEVITATED manhattan.

Tony does concede Fury has a point:.. not about joining SHIELD, they suck dirty ass in thunderstorms. But about working as a team:

Iron Man: One on one, we can each take down a villain or two, but 74... none of us can do it alone. Together we have a chance. What we did here, it can change things. The world needs us, but not as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. As a team of our own. Together, we can avenge the wrongs caused by all these villains. Wasp: We can be Avengers. Hulk: Huh. Good name.

And thus.. a team is born. Hulk agrees to stay for now and everyone else, even pacifist hank seems excited. And even Fury, while not exastic, dosen't really poop on their parade. He is worried about one thing though: Who was behind this?

So yeah.. the first 7 episodes of EMH, the breakout two parter in paticular, are amazing. It sets up the world, fleshes out the cast, and gives us some great hooks going in: how will this team mesh? can hulk be accepted by the rest of the world? Who caused the Breakouts? What's loki's plan? How is leader going to "Change the world"? What did steve do to destroy Kang's timeline? All valid questions we'll answer another time but for now we've got 7 pretty excellent episode an da great start to one of the greatest avengers tales ever

Sometime Next Year: The avengers loose a member, gain an icon and a king and deal with their growing pains, ionic men, dougboys, ape men, living sounds, and a bunch of hulks. See you then and thanks for reading.

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